The Hsinchu Maker Expo took place at Dong Yuan Elementary School and Pei Ying Junior High School on June 3 and 4. With the slogan “People Who Work, Change the World!”, the expo focused on three main areas: the “Maker Amusement Park”, the “Lesson Plan Hackathon” and the “Maker Industrial Forum”. At the opening ceremony, Mayor Chih-chien Lin said Hsinchu City is promoting the New Campus Movement and making DIY culture a part of daily life through the concept of the “flipped classroom”. He also invited children and adults all over the country to take a “Maker Micro Trip” to Hsinchu.
Chuan-Chung Hsieh, director of Hsinchu City’s Department of Education, giving the opening speech.
The forum on the first day was the “Lesson Plan Hackathon, 8 Hours Uninterrupted”. Famous Hsinchu City blogger A-Chien, FlipCon speaker Chang-Hung Chung and many other famous makers from around Taiwan were invited to eight solid hours of uninterrupted brainstorming, giving a boost to maker education in Hsinchu City.
At the Maker Industrial Forum, multiple International Prize for Architecture winner, Professor Bart van Bueren from the Netherlands shared his innovative floating house technique and also described how to use green energy like water power to develop a sustainable environment. Meanwhile, Maker Model of Hsinchu Glass and legislator Wan-ju Yu’s Fair Trade Maker Spirit were also there to tell attendees about different aspects of the maker movement.
On the second day of the event, 13 schools from Kaohsiung, Taichung, Hualien, New Taipei and Hsinchu created the Maker Amusement Park with 13 challenging and mind-blowing stages: the Guandong Elementary students love basketball, so they took inspiration from a basketball manga and designed a robot dunking game called “I Want To Be Hanamichi Sakuragi;” the “3D Business Card” designed by Jiew Sheh Primary School helps you make your own unique business card; a homemade acidity detector to avoid pollution; the students of Hualien’s Taiping Elementary School made a “Bunun Language Learning Device” using Scratch; and Fu-Ying Junior High School of New Taipei used old desks and chairs to create a Strandbeest.
Visitors can witness the creativity of 13 elementary schools from all over the country at the 13 stages they designed. (Photo: Department of Education, Hsinchu City Government)
The event also involved “Looking for Caterpillars” by Dongyuan Elementary School, the “Light Meter” by Chien Kung Senior High School, the “Cross Spirit Chasing Baton” by Yu-Hsian Junior High School, the “Fused Glass” by Gaofeng Elementary School and the “Arduino Bricks” by Hsinchu Elementary School. The “Desk and Chair Strandbeest” by New Taipei and the “Matsu Pilgrimage Robot” also participated and were two of the most popular robots at this spectacular event, inviting the audience to “work and change the world” and be passionate about being a maker.
In addition to the schools, the expo also worked with the Chinese Multi-Intelligence Education Association to provide students and parents with more information and educational media to enable makers to start from a young age, both at school and at home, because anybody can easily become a maker in daily life. Mayor Chih-chien Lin said maker education encourages students to do things by themselves, which means they are learning by doing, and this is exactly what the New Campus Movement is all about: flipping the classroom by working with your own hands, and turning the entire campus into a “Knowledge Amusement Park” full of creative energy.
